Company imposes New Sick plan on Flight attendants

[CALFLYBOY]

*deleted by moderator* That said, while the AFA files and processes the necessary grievances for the new sick policy, ALL of you must stick together! I realize that this is easier said than done, but it can be done! During horrendously awful times, a FA union is only as tough as the flight attendants standing behind them. For the sake of your careers, and careers of all flight attendants in this battered industry, just because you decide to take some tough concessions to save your company does not give the company the right to treat you like a third class citizen! Even though the company will further attempt to demoralize your group with "new" rules and behaviors, all in the name of "saving the company." You can rebuild your own morale and character as a group by sticking together, fighting what is unjust and not in your contract, and by maintaining your comaraderie. The company can never take that away from you.

How do I know? I have been through two bankruptcies with my airline and I still get treated like **** from time to time by management. I'm still there, and I still keep fighting! I do so because I choose to do so. GOOD LUCK!

 

[usfliboi]

The point of going thry supervisor was that no one else knows what the heck they are doing here. You dont have to file thru your super but because the union and the company actually has no clue on what the new policy is, they want u to hound the heck out of your super till someone gives an answer...

 

[av8orwife]

It sounds like the F/A sick policy is much like the pilots. As a pilot, I caught a cold late last month. My choice was to fly sick, or get docked 5 hours of pay even though I have over 800 hours of sick time in my bank. I chose to fly sick and infect everyone. I should not have been there and nobody wanted me there either.

My sick bank is high because I felt that I should not call in sick if I wasn't. I also assumed that I could use that sick time when I was actually sick. I was wrong. I am a convert. I will now not hesitate to call in sick for two weeks at a time for personal time off. I don't consider it sick time anymore... It's personal time that can be used for anything I want.

I really try to play by all the rules even when I disagree with them. But being monetarily penalized for catching a cold even when I have many months of sick time accumulated has crossed the line for me personally.

PS: I'm using my wife's sign in handle.
PPS: Her signature line applies to me in this case.

 

[nycbusdriver]

av8or

You should have called in sick if it was last month. As I understand it, the new policy didn''t take effect until April 1st.

Too bad ALPA hasn''t bothered to fully explain it. Maybe they don''t quite understand it either.

 

[airlineorphan]

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On 4/10/2003 8:18:11 PM nycbusdriver wrote:

av8or



Too bad ALPA hasn''t bothered to fully explain it. Maybe they don''t quite understand it either.

----------------​

Can''t speak for ALPA, but as far as AFA is concerned....


There are two problems at play here:

1) Management is violating the agreements it "negotiated" last year. AFA never agreed to any of the stuff management is concocting. Management just made sh*t up!

2) Management doesn''t have a clue about what it is implementing and cannot explain it to AFA.


Under these circumstances, who could understand it? If management can''t explain it, they must not understand it themselves.


Let management reap what they sow. Maybe there will be some more bonuses in it for them?

-Airlineorphan

 

[flyswatter]

what do you expect from this "labor friendly" management team? they negotiate while threatening to liquidate, then they abuse the employees further by making things up as they go along. believe me, the people they have trying to implement the new sick policy don''t even understand it. so much for caring about the employees.

 

[airlineorphan]

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On 4/10/2003 9:13:19 PM flyswatter wrote:

what do you expect from this "labor friendly" management team? they negotiate while threatening to liquidate, then they abuse the employees further by making things up as they go along. believe me, the people they have trying to implement the new sick policy don''t even understand it. so much for caring about the employees.

----------------​

You nailed it. In fact, it''s exactly what I expect of this management "team."

But I think we need get up, dust ourselves off, and start to reclaim our dignity by standing up to these bullies. Bullies never stop abusing until people shake off their fear and stand up to them.

I saw a bumper sticker once that made me laugh. It said:

"Don''t whine! Organize!"


-Airlineorphan

 

[A319FA]

I am amazed at the number of employees who sit around and complain when the company takes away their toys. We can't change the past, but can have some say in our future.

The sick policy (from what I understand) isn't perfect but it is all that we have right now.

 

[airlineorphan]

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On 4/10/2003 10:17:24 PM A319FA wrote:

I am amazed at the number of employees who sit around and complain when the company takes away their toys. We can''t change the past, but can have some say in our future.

The sick policy (from what I understand) isn''t perfect but it is all that we have right now.

----------------​

You are right about having a say in the future, but this is NOT about a policy that isn''t perfect. It''s about a policy that was NOT AGREED TO in contract negotiations and was never ratified. It''s about a contradictory policy that management cobbled together all by themselves.

So, no matter what the details are about the policy, there is the issue of management unilaterally rewriting our contract.

I don''t know about other folks who are complaining about the policy, but I''m someone who never used a single sick day at US Airways. The only folks abusing the process here are the folks running Labor Relations.

But you are absolutely right that we can have a say in our future. And the FUTURE IS NOW!

-Airlineorphan

 

[drifterreno]

Sounds like the rest of the airline is catching up with the sick policy''s of the res and customer service departments. Sick once--and all of this is no matter how many hours you have saved--you''re given an occurance. Sick 3x and you''re on level 1. Sick more you increase your levels--get to level 3 and you''re suspended and level 4 is out the door. Just remember--get all the way better if you''re sick--each occurance counts even if you try to come back to work then realize you''re sicker than you thought. Good luck but please keep up the good customer service on those flights.

 

[usfliboi]

AFA US Airways MEC E-Line
April 10, 2003

In This E-Line:

Clarification From MEC President Perry Hayes Concerning
New Sick Policy

Furlough and Displacement Q & A
=====================
Message from MEC President Perry Hayes:

"Regarding the new sick policy. . .when I said "If
you call in sick and need to file a sick claim, you
must contact your inflight supervisor.". . .I did not
mean that the new policy requires you to call your
Inflight Supervisor when you have a sick claim. What
I meant was if you need information about the new sick
policy and how your sick claim will be processed, you
must contact your Inflight Supervisor. Sorry for the
confusion."
=====================

 

[NAPAUS]

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On 4/10/2003 10:51:07 PM airlineorphan wrote:

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On 4/10/2003 10:17:24 PM A319FA wrote:

I am amazed at the number of employees who sit around and complain when the company takes away their toys. We can''t change the past, but can have some say in our future.

The sick policy (from what I understand) isn''t perfect but it is all that we have right now.

----------------​

You are right about having a say in the future, but this is NOT about a policy that isn''t perfect. It''s about a policy that was NOT AGREED TO in contract negotiations and was never ratified. It''s about a contradictory policy that management cobbled together all by themselves.

So, no matter what the details are about the policy, there is the issue of management unilaterally rewriting our contract.

I don''t know about other folks who are complaining about the policy, but I''m someone who never used a single sick day at US Airways. The only folks abusing the process here are the folks running Labor Relations.

But you are absolutely right that we can have a say in our future. And the FUTURE IS NOW!

-Airlineorphan

----------------​

Orphan you are 100 % correct. Its all about Jerry Glass and labor relations. The abuse that we are presenely encountering is being directed right from CCY and JERRYS THE MAN! Thats one of the reasons why i''ve said there IS something to be done..FIGHT !!get mad as hell and let mgmt know this is totally unacceptable. How about a major writing campaign and a letter to all the major newpapers..Charlotte Observer, Washington Post, Pittsburgh Press, Philadelphia Enq.,Boston Globe. thinks it time to expose and embarrass Dave and his buddies. AT LEAST we wont be just sitting around and waiting for a grievance to be heard. We cant sit idly by and let them erode every aspect of our agreement...What do u think??? I like the way u think....

 

[flyswatter]

as i understand the new sick policy, there is a big difference for ALPA vs AFA. if a pilot calls in sick, he will be able to use his bank, mostly likely resulting in now pay loss for that given month. if he doesn''t have any bank time to use, then he will be short on pay if he doesn''t fly the sick time back.

for the f/a''s, it''s a lot more confusing. first, f/a''s don''t have bank time to use. if you have an 80+00 line with four 20+00 trips and you call in sick for one trip, you would think you could claim the 15+00 and then pick up and extra 10+00 trip to reach 90+00 which you are allowed to do. right? wrong. if you pick up the extra 15+00 trip, it will simply reduce the amount of your sick claim down to 0 and you still won''t be at 90+00. you will still be at 75+00 and if you want to get paid for 90+00 in that month, you''ll have to pick up another 15+00 trip. it gets even better....if you fly a trip and it is scheduled for 22+00 but you gain and hour due to irregular ops...that comes off your sick claim, too.

and for those who think afa can do something besides file a grievance, please tell me what that something is? we are not in section 6....job action would be illegal. so, the company knows they can do this to the employees and get away with it until it goes to arbitration.

go ahead and recall or decertify....will that get the arbitration solved sooner? you tell me

 

[PITbull]

NAP,

Now your talking my language.

 

[airlineorphan]

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On 4/11/2003 12:13:34 PM NAPAUS wrote:

Orphan you are 100 % correct. Its all about Jerry Glass and labor relations. The abuse that we are presenely encountering is being directed right from CCY and JERRYS THE MAN! Thats one of the reasons why i''ve said there IS something to be done..FIGHT !!get mad as hell and let mgmt know this is totally unacceptable. How about a major writing campaign and a letter to all the major newpapers..Charlotte Observer, Washington Post, Pittsburgh Press, Philadelphia Enq.,Boston Globe. thinks it time to expose and embarrass Dave and his buddies. AT LEAST we wont be just sitting around and waiting for a grievance to be heard. We cant sit idly by and let them erode every aspect of our agreement...What do u think??? I like the way u think....

----------------​

Though flyswatter is correct that there could be severe legal repercussions to job actions (unless it is determined that this new sick "sick policy" represents a Major Unilateral Alteration of our contract), there are quite a few things we can do that put the heat on management.

I agree completely that we shouldn''t sit around and wait for the grievance to go through it''s process. The more heat f/a''s put on the company (through perfectly legal means of course ) the stronger our bargaining position is in the grievance process.

This is all about balance of power. Management strategy has consistently been to erode the power of employees, to drive wedges amongst the different employee groups, between different levels of seniority, and between the rank-and-file and union leadership. Time to start turning that around.

Before getting into some things we can do, I think for everyone''s peace of mind and protection, it will be very important for all of us to make sure EVERYONE does as AFA has suggested. In times when policies are vague, contradictory and confusing, it is important that you insist upon a DETAILED analysis from Inflight on your individual situation and how the new sick "sick policy" will apply in your option and the various scenarios that may crop up. So make sure you get as educated as possible. If management wants to ignore and end-run our union representatives, let''s see how smoothly the alternative scenario works: Each and every employee getting the policy individually explained in detail.

But there is certainly more to do. I think a public letter writing campaign is a great idea. Get the word out to the public about the way management is repaying employees who sacrificed to keep this company flying. Get the word out in the press and to public officials. Make sure all of the traveller organizations are aware of the abusive way management is repaying employees for making US Airways the top ranked airline in the recent customer satisfaction studies. Informational leafletting is another legal option. I believe folks should think about it, talk about it amongst your crews and be creative.

How''s that for starters, NAPAUS?

-Airlineorphan